Since the advent of the throwaway syringe and other medical throwaway articles there has arisen a need for a method to prevent their misuse. In hospitals today there is a tremendous volume of these articles which after being used must be accounted for by some method or another, all of which takes precious time. There is an acute need for a disposing system which is sanitary, quick to use and can handle large volumes.
The basic principle of breaking and grinding syringes by mechanical means is well known in the art as typified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,520. The concept of a dual-stage cylindrical cutting means as taught in the present invention is a clearly new concept in the art. The radial blades in the top surface of the rotor element extend outwardly from the hub of the rotor and comprise the first cutting means which pass by the material inlet pipe thereby breaking up the syringes as they fall into the center of the rotor element. The second stage cutting means includes a plurality of longitudinal blades positioned around the periphery of the cylindrical rotor element in conjunction with stationary blades located around the inside wall of the housing so that as the entering materials are caused to rotate by the rotating element, they are thrown outward by centrifugal force and sheared between the stationary and longitudinal blades thereby further breaking up the material.
It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to provide a new and improved syringe disposal system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposal system which handles a relatively large volume of material in a very short period of time. Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposal system which would be completely sanitary and self-contained.